Thai police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of several thousand anti-government protesters who were besieging city police headquarters. The prime minister said he might declare a state of emergency if the rioting worsens.

Surrounded by an enormous crowd of 84,000, Barack Obama promised a clean break from the "broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush" Thursday night as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president.

Lesbian activist Del Martin died on Wednesday, just two months after marrying her partner of 55 years in one of the first legally recognized California same-sex weddings. "I am devastated, but I take some solace in knowing we were able to enjoy the ultimate rite of love and commitment before she passed," her wife Phyllis Lyon said

This AP lead makes it sound like John McCain has chosen Tim Pawlenty as his running mate but the wire service afraid to say so: "Republican presidential candidate John McCain decided on a running mate early today, and one top prospect, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, abruptly canceled numerous public appearances."

So the VP vigil continues. Though Senator McCain has stated that he will announce his pick at 11 AM on Friday, rumors have been spreading that the choice could be leaked on Thursday evening during Zeus Obama?s historic and messiah like speech.

On the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s rousing call, Sen. Barack Obama will accept the Democratic nomination tonight at Invesco Field in Denver, Colo., becoming the first African-American to lead a major party's ticket for president of the United States. Live on CNN and other cable news channels.

The sanctity-of-life plank approved by the GOP platform committee this week includes the same pro-life language that has been in Republican platforms dating back to the Reagan years and that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has criticized in the past.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of orchestrating the conflict in Georgia. "U.S. citizens were indeed in the area in conflict," Putin said. "They were acting in implementing those orders doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their leader."

The love affair between John McCain and the press corps following his campaign appears to be over. "McCain at first seemed happy enough to do the interview," write James Carney and Michael Scherer, Time reporters invited to interview him recently on the campaign plane. "But his mood quickly soured. The McCain on display in the 24-minute interview was prickly, at times abrasive, and determined not to stray off message."

In a relatively short time, Google Images has become a huge source of internet traffic. A substantial percentage of our traffic comes from Google searches, and a rapidly growing segment of that comes from image searches. I was reminded of this once more when I checked the numbers and found that over the past 12 hours, nearly 18,000 people have found their way to Power Line by searching "Sarah Palin" and linking to the "Miss Wasilla" photo that you can see below.

Over the years, we have also gotten an astonishing number of hits from people doing Google Images searches who link to this post, and this one. Beyond that, various Miss World and Miss Universe posts have garnered large numbers of Google Images referrals.

It's never occurred to us to post photos to troll for Google Images, but it may be something to consider.

True Grit, I hope

Like John and Paul, I was disappointed when I heard this morning that Senator McCain had called on Sarah Palin to be his running mate. I was disappointed mostly because I thought that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty was the right man for the job.

Watching Governor Pawlenty up close over the last 10 years or so, I was impressed by his personal story and likability. Tim is virtually impossible to dislike. Even those who disagree with him politically don't hate him. He has the kind of political skills that are in short supply on the Republican side, which is one of the reasons that McCain's short list was so short so long. Governor Palin's short resume also tends to undercut one part of the case against Obama.

Watching the announcement of Governor Palin's naming in Dayton, it strikes me that she may have the same kind of likability in her favor as Governor Pawlenty. Her personal story is compelling and she comes across as an authentic person. Standing next to John McCain on stage, Governor Palin looks like Mattie Ross to McCain's Rooster Cogburn. They could make a good team.

Judging by our email, Governor Palin's selection has electrified conservatives. I think this is in part because of the way she is living out the prolife credo. She sets a powerful and inspiring example. In part the excitement also derives from her stands against the corruption that has tarnished the Republican Party. It seemed unlikely that McCain's vice presidential selection would at the same time excite party regulars and serve to attract independents, but it may well do so. Anyway, here's hoping.

Snobama retreats

On second thought...

Introducing PJTV

Read this post »

The Bright Side

Paul and I have already voiced our concerns about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for Vice-President. Now it's time to look at the upside. In fact, there is a lot to like about Palin. To begin with, her nomination provoked a typically mean-spirited reaction from the Obama campaign:

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Then, too, Palin's selection was probably the only one that could drive Obama's speech last night off the front pages. Just in time, perhaps, as the Obama bounce is now up to 8 points if you believe Gallup. (That tends to support the conclusion that Obama is an effective demagogue.)

Palin could help McCain with several demographics, like the pageant community. Here she is as Miss Wasilla 1984:

News reports indicate that the crowd in Dayton, Ohio responded enthusiastically to references to Palin as an athlete. She was the point guard on a state champion basketball team:

I think McCain has pretty much got the hunter/fisherman demographic sewn up, but Palin will certainly be a plus there, too:

She is a big supporter of the troops, and her oldest son is headed for Iraq:

I like this one; Palin is the one with the gun. Unlike Michael Dukakis, she actually knows how to fire it:

I think voters will like the whole Palin family. Her husband Todd is a commercial fisherman and also works in oil production on the North Slope. I think this photo is of Sarah working on the family's fishing boat; I'm told that as Governor, she still does that on weekends:

Todd Palin is a union member and a world-class snowmobile racer; here they are at a race:

A lot of voters are going to find this image appealing. I certainly do. In general, Palin's strengths seem to reinforce McCain's, but she could help a bit with blue-collar voters.

Substantively, Palin is a legitimate reformer. She killed the "bridge to nowhere," which is probably the only pork project most voters have heard of. She is a solid conservative and, perhaps best of all, she is an expert on energy and a staunch advocate of drilling. A large majority of Alaskans want develop ANWR; one hopes that Palin can change McCain's mind on that part of the energy issue.

I, for one, am very tired of hearing Democrats say that we can't drill ourselves out of our energy shortage. We could, actually, but since when is that the standard? Wharton Econometrics Forecasting Associates estimates that developing ANWR petroleum alone could create 736,000 American jobs. How about if we stop outsourcing our energy production and drill ourselves a few million great, high-paying jobs? The energy issue is a huge winner for the Republicans, and Palin should be able to help make the case, especially if McCain comes around on Alaska oil.

A favorite mainstream media trick is to begin the description of any Republican or conservative by reciting his or her opposition to abortion and gay marriage, as though these were that person's signature issues. I've seen that done already with Palin. By now, everyone knows that her youngest child, an infant, has Down syndrome. Palin's commitment to her pro-life principles has made her popular with social conservatives--again, not a group that McCain particularly needs help with--and respected by some moderates, too.

McCain may have selected Palin in part to appeal to disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters; if so, I'm not sure there are a lot of votes there to be had. But Palin may well be a plus with more moderate women. Ann Althouse, a classic swing voter, I think, is very excited about the pick, and it seems that many women share that sentiment.

So, while it's hard to argue that Sarah Palin was the most qualified of the candidates McCain had to choose from, she is obviously a bold choice and one that may turn out to pay dividends.

PAUL adds: A friend who is toiling at the convention on one of the committees reports that Palin's selection was greeted by "thunderous applause and a standing ovation." (The reaction from Alaskans at the convention apparently is more mixed -- a sign that she's been a genuine reformer there).

Thus, Bill Otis may well be right when he says:

She's going to bring some excitement to our people that McCain couldn't and wouldn't get by himself. A campaign needs foot soldiers, call makers, [and] envelope stuffers. Our people have been glum for months. The reason contributions were way down is that enthusiasm was way down. Palin will perk it up.

McCain apparently was trying for two-fer: someone who can energize the base but who also has cross-over appeal -- not to hard core Hillary supporters, but to moderate voters, especially females. There were few, if any, other prospective nominees who offered this sort of possibility.

Snobama strikes again

Gaffe-tastic.

Poll time: Are you pumped?

Vote.

Team Obama whines, clamors for relevance

Hope to Change the subject.

Obama's Acceptance Speech Hit Some High Notes, but His Themes Won't Hold Up

The Democrats may be promising more than they can deliver.

Disappointed

I'm very disappointed that John McCain would put someone as inexperienced and lacking in foreign policy and national security background as Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency.

UPDATE: During lunch, I saw Palin's speech. She looks great on the stump and speaks very well. Her husband, it turns out, is a member of the Steelworkers Union, and looks like he was sent by central casting.

Palin praised Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton for blazing the trail. She agreed that Hillary had put 18,000,000 cracks in the glass ceiling. She then added, "it turns out women aren't finished yet."

Sadly, but not surprisingly, identity politics has run amok in this country. In my view, Palin wouldn't have been seriously considered for vice president but for her gender. But at least she appears to be a very substantial person with real potential for high office.

The Alaska governor is relatively inexperienced but a staunch supporter of gun rights and oil drilling.

All you need to know about Sarah Palin

Background:
Born: February 11, 1964 (44 years old) - Sandpoint, Idaho
College: University of Idaho
Profession: Journalist
Spouse: Todd Palin
Children: 5
Interesting Facts:
Placed Second in “Miss Alaska”
Nickname: Sarah Baracuda
Has one son in the military
Has one child with Downs Syndrome
Husband is three-time champion of the world’s longest snowmachine race
Political Experience:
Wasilla City Council
Wasilla Mayor
Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas [...]

Palin for America: A true conservative: “She knows when to stand up and doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down”

Wow.

Palin, Not Pawlenty?

I've suspected for a while that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty would be John McCain's choice for VP, but it's not to be. Pawlenty told a local radio station this morning that he's heading for the Minnesota State Fair, not Dayton, Ohio. "You can draw your own conclusions," he added.

Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that Sarah Palin flew from Anchorage to Dayton last night. If that's right, it looks like she's the choice. More on that later.

UPDATE: OK, it's later. I'm worried about Palin. I'm afraid she may be the Geraldine Ferraro of 2008. If she really is the nominee, will it come across as a desperation move, a Hail Mary, as Mondale's choice of Ferraro did in 1984? I'm afraid so. Her experience just doesn't justify a place on the ticket. If McCain really wanted to go radical, Bobby Jindal was the far sounder choice--but maybe Jindal turned him down, on the theory that he needs to do his job as Governor of Louisiana before trying to go national.

On the bright side, Mitt Romney reportedly is in Dayton too, so maybe he's the Veep pick and Palin is just there to introduce him. Or something like that.

ONE MORE: The AP says the McCain camp "hopes the announcement of his running mate will stunt any momentum that Democratic rival Barack Obama might get from the just concluded Democratic National Convention." If it really is Palin, I'm afraid the opposite will happen. Press reaction will be 100% negative; the emphasis will all be on Palin's inexperience--she's been Governor of Alaska for less than two years--and the fallout will augment, not limit, Obama's convention bounce. The most important thing McCain has going for him in this race is the perception that he is the serious candidate. Choosing a running mate who will be widely perceived as unqualified would go a long way toward squandering that advantage.

Don't get me wrong: I like Sarah Palin, from what little I know of her, and I'd much rather have her as President than Barack Obama. What we're talking here is politics. If McCain loses the election, it's all for naught.

PAUL adds: I agree with John, and it's not just politics. I don't want to prejudge Palin, but she's going to have to persuade me she's qualified for the presidency, and this won't be easy. I hope we're witnessing the kind of misdirection that promised us Edith Clement and delivered John Roberts. Not that we have a Roberts for this office.

On the other hand, my friend Bill Otis, who is at least as old school as I am and usually more astute, writes:

If she's the pick, it's a stroke of genius. It will rally the base and have some level of appeal to women, who at this point must be feeling a little left out of things.
You once remarked to me -- in pre-Monica days -- that Clinton "discovered women" [as a political force]. I think the Dems have somewhat undiscovered them, or have come to take them for granted, and if McCain can now make the discovery they've left on the wayside, it's all to the good.

Of course we aren't going to get the feminist vote, but Palin will help with working women and suburban soccer moms. If McCain winds up winning, which I now give him a roughly 50% chance of doing, selecting a woman will get some of the credit, and deservedly so.

Palin will need tutoring against Biden, however. He can pack more lies into one sentence than anyone since Slick Willy -- indeed even more, since the sentences are longer.

Update: All you need to know about Sarah Palin
Update: It’s official!
JOHN MCCAIN SELECTS ALASKA GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN AS VICE PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office
Friday, August 29, 2008
703-650-5550
ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain today announced that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate and to serve as [...]

Obama's speech -- all of the above

The Democrats pulled out all the theatrical stops tonight. They filled a football stadium, built part of a Greek temple, and put on a fireworks show worthy of the 4th of July.

Barack Obama, for his part, pulled out all the rhetorical stops. His speech was a patchwork of homey sentimentality, Clintonesque laundry lists, and Obama's version of Jesse Jackson's preacher man. If a particular riff that has worked somewhere on the stump didn't fit into one of these slots, it was given its own.

All of these elements have worked for politicians at times and Obama pulls each off better than most. Thus, this may well prove to have been an effective speech. But by no means do I think this was a great, or even an excellent, one.

I was also surprised that it wasn't better targeted towards the two groups Obama must have to win the election -- Hillary Clinton-supporting women and independent voters. Obama made only the most perfunctory of nods in Hillary's direction. And what exactly in this speech does Obama think will reel in independents skeptical about his fitness for office and his liberalism? The fact that his mother was from Kansas?

This was an angry speech as these things go, and (like Joe Biden's) a dishonest one. If the McCain campaign wanted to provoke Obama, it succeeded. The political environment may be such that independent voters will have no problem with Obama’s stridency, the kind typically associated with VP nominee. But if they are that upset, Obama need not have given a speech.

Here's the blow-by-blow account:

10:03 Obama’s intro tape begins. We’re told that his mother wanted young Barack to know what being an American means. We’re not told that she took him to Indonesia to find out.

10:04 His grandparents grew up in Kansas. That’s code for “I’m not a Muslim,” I guess. Otherwise, it’s difficult to understand why Obama keeps pointing this out.

10:07 Barack cleans up for Michelle. If your surname is Obama, you should be “Barry.” This segment is code for "I'm not a Muslim, my parents just messed up."

10:08 The tape is covering Obama’s time in the state legislature. No legislative achievements are mentioned, but we learn that when he visited Southern Illinois he recognized the people because they were just like his grandparents. Actually, his grandparents were radicals living in Hawaii, but all ordinary white folk look alike.

10:09 The tape is over. No Indonesia, no Hawaii, no Harvard.

10:10 Obama is on stage now. He’s flashing a great smile, and why not?

10:11 Now he’s applauding the crowd. I thought only European soccer players did this.

10:13 He plugs Hillary as “an inspiration to my daughters and yours.” This brief, hackneyed, insincere reference is all she rates tonight.

10:14 He plugs Joe Biden. Joe Biden is smiling like he just won the lottery, and why not?

10:16 He begins the substantive part of the speech by going negative on the Bush administration. Obama probably understands that the bloom is off his rose and that the key to victory is to “draft” home behind a wind of discontent.

10:18 Nothing special yet. This is just a generic Democratic attack speech.

10:20 This election, Obama says, is about keeping the American dream alive. Still very vanilla.

10:21 “We love this country too much to let the next four years be just like the last eight.” Still pedestrian. “Eight is enough.” That line was used earlier in the convention. Can I get my money back?

10:22 Now the subject is McCain. Obama praises him for “wearing the uniform of our country with bravery.” His praise of McCain is the most perfunctory I’ve heard yet at the convention. Obama has managed to make Bill Clinton seem gracious.

10:23 According to Obama, McCain voted with the Bush administration 90 percent of the time. The Dems have spent the entire convention shifting back and forth between 90 percent and 95 percent on this statistic. It’s meaningless in any case until a baseline is established by reference to, say, the percentage of time Obama voted with the administration. But it sounds good, or would if the Dems could get their story straight.

10:24 Playing off the 10 percent number, Obama says we shouldn’t settle for a 10 percent chance on change. It’s nonsense of course, but it's also his first semi-good line of the evening.

10:25 Obama is riffing off of Phil Gramm’s lines about a “mental recession” and a “nation of whiners.” I’ll need to check the transcript on this, but it sounded to me like Obama phrased this in a way that invites the impression that McCain, not Gramm, uttered these unfortunate lines.

10:26 According to Obama, it’s not that John McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the country, it’s that he doesn’t know what’s going on. It seems unlikely that a candidate who has been attending town meetings on an almost daily basis for a year and half doesn’t know what’s going on in the country. Obama is setting a low bar for McCain next week.

10:27 Obama follows up by claiming that McCain believes being wealthy means making $5 million per year or more. I’d like to see Obama’s source for this one.

10:29 We’re back to grandpa. He marched with General Patton. Maybe that’s why he wouldn’t give grandma a ride to her job at the bank in Hawaii.

10:30 Grandma, who had the lead role in raising Obama and who he once impugned for racism, is finally getting her due.

10:31 Obama cites ma, grandma, and grandpa to refute McCain’s charge that he’s a celebrity. But McCain didn’t say that ma, grandma, and grandpa were celebrities, he said that Obama was.

10:32 Obama states that, under his vision of the American promise, government “should help us not hurt us.” Can I get my money back?

10:33 Here’s the part of the speech when Obama presents “exactly the change” he’s going to deliver. He’s going to cut taxes for 95 percent of “working families.”

10:35 With respect to energy, it’s all about new sources. He disparages new drilling as a “stop-gap.” Now who is insensitive to what’s going on in the country?

10:39 He’s going to protect social security. Nothing about how he’s going to accomplish that. Are folks noticing how empty most of this is?

10:40 He’s going to make sure there’s equal pay for equal work. He doesn’t mention that this has been the law of the land for virtually his entire lifetime. (The controversy here is over whether you have to complain about violations in a timely manner, as with every other law; the Dems are crusading to relieve plaintiffs of this obligation).

10:41 Obama is going to pay for all of his domestic promises by, you guessed it, closing tax loopholes and streamlining government. He'll cut (unspecified) wasteful programs, don't you see. Can I get my money back?

10:43 Here’s the obligatory salute to individual responsibility. This is designed to show that Obama isn’t like other Democrats. Never mind that Democrats have been talking up individual responsibility for decades to show they are not like other Democrats. I guess their insincerity is so apparent that no one remembers.

10:44 After almost half an hour, we finally get to foreign policy and national security.

10:45 “We must take out Osama bin Laden if we have him in our sights.” Who said Obama doesn’t grasp national security issues?

10:46 He accuses McCain of not being willing to follow bin Laden into the cave where he lives. If Obama loses the election, let’s hope he gives McCain the address of that cave.

10:47 Obama is setting a low bar for McCain next week.

10:48 Obama says he’s the one who will deter Iran. You remember Iran – that tiny country we don’t have to worry about.

10:49 Obama is also the one to deter Russia. You remember Russia – the country Obama was slow to denounce after it attacked Georgia.

10:51 Obama is not going to question McCain’s patriotism. That’s big of him. But he’s just accused McCain of being unwilling to go after bin Laden.

10:52 Obama will stipulate that both he and McCain love America. In fact, “we all put our country first.” Obama is being amazingly defensive here. Then again, McCain spent six years in a Vietnamese prison for his country. Obama spent 20 years being mentored spiritually by the rabid anti-American Jeremiah Wright and is friends with Chicago’s first couple of domestic terrorism. In these circumstances, I’d try for that same stipulation.

10:53 He’s getting even more defensive now, as he raises the issues of abortions and guns. His tactic is to call for “unity” and “common ground” on the issues where he’s weakest. Can we have some common ground on taxes? Like don’t raise mine?

10:54 Obama just knows that the Republicans are going to try to make this “big election be about small issues.” Like his fitness for the presidency.

10:55 Now he’s recalling the people he claims to have met on the campaign trail. This isn’t bad material, but the speech is getting long. Has he kept his audience for the grand finale?

10:59 Here it comes, and naturally it’s going to be tied to the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s speech in Washington.

11:00 Obama is in full preacher mode now and he sounds great. He speaks admiringly of King who, unlike Obama tonight, spoke without anger. Yet it was Jeremiah Wright, not King, who brought Obama to Christ.

11:02 The speech is over and the Obama and Biden families have gathered on stage. The scene is quite impressive. Good looking families, awesome fireworks, a massive stadium filled with cheering (and in some cases ecstatic) people. Will it be viewed as too much? We’ll see.

11:03 The music in this setting has a creepy, epic quality to it. When do the chariot races start?

11:04 One more bow for the Obama couple and the Biden couple before they ascend to the heavens.

Fireworks! The perfect end to an evening of BS slinging of historic proportions. Barack Obama is a demagogue who will stoop to any lie or distortion; the question is how many people he can fool. On that, the jury is out. The answer will emerge between now and November.

It will take some time to dissect all of the foolishness we heard tonight, but here are a few observations:

Obama outlined, in the vaguest terms possible, countless billions or trillions of new federal spending. How would he pay for it? By "closing corporate loopholes"--like what? The idea that Obama's orgy of spending can be funded by "closing corporate loopholes" is frankly childish. By increasing taxes on the top 5% of taxpayers, i.e., precisely those who are grossly over-taxed already. The top 5% already pay 60% of all federal income taxes. And by "eliminating programs that no longer work." Really? Which ones? No one seriously imagines that Obama--let alone the Democratic Congress!--has any intention of eliminating any significant government programs.

Obama says he wants to become independent of foreign oil in ten years. How? By tapping natural gas reserves. I wonder whether Obama, unlike Nancy Pelosi, understands that natural gas is a fossil fuel for which we must drill offshore, in ANWR, etc. There was perhaps some news here: Obama also came out for developing nuclear energy, yet another flip-flop. But does anyone imagine that nuclear energy development would go forward in a Democratic Congress and White House? In one of his many cheap shots, Obama said that we import three times as much foreign oil as when John McCain went to Washington. That's no doubt true, because the Democratic Party has enacted legislation that makes it illegal to develop our domestic resources.

Obama said he is happy to debate John McCain about who has the judgment and temperament to guide foreign policy. Of course, he has had many opportunities to do so, and has ducked them. Does this mean that Obama will now accept McCain's challenge to a series of town hall appearances? But what about Obama's foreign policy judgment? He barely mentioned Iraq--once, in the distant past, his signature issue--but never referred at all to the surge. Obama was dead wrong on the most important foreign policy issue that has arisen during his time in the Senate, and he failed even to mention it, let alone try to justify his error.

Rather weirdly, Obama attacked McCain for alleged unwillingness to "follow Osama bin Laden to the cave where he lives." If this means anything, it means that Obama is still in favor of invading Pakistan. Again, no one really believes Obama will do this; it's just another example of how he doesn't feel any obligation to conform his words to reality.

He says we "don't deter Iran by talking tough," so how, then, do we deter Iran? Obama offers no clue. Likewise with Georgia; "talking tough" won't stop the Russians. True enough; deterring the Russians requires military capability. Yet Obama has pledged to reduce our military capability. So how, exactly, are the Russians to be stopped?

Obama is utterly unreliable every time he recites a statistic. Examples could be multiplied endlessly; to take just one, he said tonight that "the average American family saw its income go down $2,000 under George Bush." That is untrue. Here are the real median household income figures from the Census Bureau; click to enlarge:

Inflation-adjusted median income during the Bush administration is up, not "down $2,000" since 2001, and it increased again last year.

Of course, Obama has no intention of appealing to the well-informed. Like other Democrats, he feeds on ignorance. Whether a majority of voters are ignorant enough to swallow Obama's whoppers is, as yet, unknown.

One last thought: was there a single sentence in Obama's speech that could not have come from Jimmy Carter?

Rumors swirling around John McCain's Vice-Presidential choice are now focusing mainly on Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on the buzz surrounding Pawlenty a little while ago. I've thought for a while that Tim is the most likely--and best--choice, but that's not based on any inside knowledge. To an impressive degree, a cone of silence has descended around McCain's decision. People whom you'd expect to know, if anyone does, don't.

So the VP vigil continues. Though Senator McCain has stated that he will announce his pick at 11 AM on Friday, rumors have been spreading that the choice could be leaked on Thursday evening during Zeus Obama’s historic and messiah like speech.
The latest buzz seems to indicate that Mitt Romney is not going to be [...]

Joel Mowbray reports: Democrats have a good night

Joel Mowbray (jdmowbra@erols.com) reports from Denver:

Yesterday was the kind of day Democrats were hoping for. What started withHillary asking the delegates to nominate Obama by acclamation ended with the nominee embracing his running mate on stage after Biden's very solid speech.

To no one's surprise, Obama's unannouced visit a day before his nomination address sent the audience into a tizzy. (Interestingly, Bill Clinton had a longer ovation, though he clearly stoked his and Obama did not.)

Joe Biden had genuine command of the audience, kicking off with an effective presentation of his personal story and closing with an enthusiastic pitch for Obama -- but he wasn't the best Biden to take the stage.

His son Beau, Delaware's attorney general, gave a moving, impressive introduction. As TV audiences saw from the close-ups of Michelle Obama and others during his address, Beau moved plenty in the audience to tears. The tragedy of his mother dying in a car crash after his father's 1972 election (but before having been sworn in) is obviously powerful stuff. Beau's delivery, however, made it even more so.

Yet as good as both Bidens were, Wednesday's last hour might have felt anticlimactic in the wake of Bill Clinton's gem had it not been for Obama's surprise embrace of his running mate to cap off the night.

Last night was the night Democrats had to have. Stories about the first two evenings were dominated by the discord between Teams Hillary and Obama. This was reflected in the mood inside the arena and in the late-night parties afterward. Party conventions are normally pretty raucous affairs, and the passion is usually palpable. That joyous mood had been missing, though it seems Democrats are now at least back to where they should have been at the week's outset.

Democrats finally have a reason to smile, even if it took them two wasted days to get what they needed. For the first time, convention-goers seem truly enthused. They are not back to the dizzying highs of Obama-mania during his March winning streak, but they're happier than they've been in a while.

Yet even with the renewed Democratic optimism, the bar is low enough that next week the once-unthinkable could happen, as GOP spirits could be as buoyant as the Democrats'.

That's far from a given, but the mere fact that it's even possible shows just how much the dynamics of this race have changed since spring.

The ever-gracious Jimmy Carter has accused John McCain of "milking every possible drop of advantage" from his time served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Carter was referring to McCain's references to that time in the Saddleback event. But that event called on McCain and Obama to talk about personal matters, not just policy, and Carter didn't cite any specific instance where he thought McCain's reference to his POW days was inappropriate or inapt.

In any event, if Obama can constantly refer to his three year stint as a "community organizer" on the South Side of Chicago, and Biden can invoke multiple references to his stuttering, I don't see why McCain shouldn't talk about "the Hanoi Hilton."

I understand why it makes Carter uncomfortable, though. On his frequent visits to barbaric dictatorship states, Carter's accommodations are always so much better.

Our friends at The People’s Press Collective will have wall-to-wall, on-the-ground, livestreaming coverage of the coronation. [...] Read the rest »

What Should McCain Say?

On Tuesday morning, I'll be doing a breakfast program for the Center of the American Experiment along with David Frum. We'll do a panel moderated by the Center's founder, Mitch Pearlstein, on what John McCain should say in his acceptance speech, or what Barack Obama should have said in his.

If you live in the Twin Cities or will be here for the Convention and are interested in attending, you can get the details and register here. It's from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. at the Solera restaurant, 900 Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis.

Pajamas Media has launched the first-ever internet "television" news network. It's an exciting project, and we at Power Line will be participating. The current plan is that we'll have a weekly show.

The Pajamas TV site is here. The network will debut with nightly coverage of the Republican convention, from Monday through Thursday of next week. PJTV will be a subscription service--there are three price levels, all pretty cheap--but a lot of the convention coverage will be available for free. All three of us will be on hand to participate in PJTV's coverage and also, of course, will be posting here.

Currently, PJTV has posted interviews with several participants, including me.

UPDATE: I notice that currently, you can watch the interviews with James Lileks and Jennifer Rubin for free, but you have to subscribe to see mine. I assume that's inadvertent...

Check out this devastating new ad by the McCain campaign. It combines footage of various Democrats--including Barack Obama!--talking about his lack of preparation to be President with footage from Russia's invasion of Georgia:

Also, watch for another new McCain ad that apparently will air tonight. From today's "Morning Joe" show:

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Apparently the McCain campaign has an ad rolling out tonight. What's it about?
JILL HAZELBAKER: Well, Mika, this is a historic ad. I think this is the first of its kind. Senator McCain is going to speak direct to camera to Barack Obama. I’m not going to give away many more details than that. But suffice to say it’s going to be a very exciting ad, and I think it’s going to get a lot of attention.
…
BRZEZINSKI: Jill, you’ve got to give us more on this ad. He's speaking directly to camera, John McCain is to Barack Obama. If you say there's news here, what's the news?
HAZELBAKER: Well, I'm going to keep a lid on it. But I think it's newsworthy to note that Senator McCain is going to have an ad that's going to air in battleground states around the time that Senator Obama is speaking tonight. And he’s going to be talking directly to his opponent. So, I'm going to leave it there, but it's going be very exciting and a lot of people are going to focus on it.

Finally, word is that McCain may announce his Vice-Presidential pick shortly before Obama is scheduled to speak tonight.

UPDATE: What does all this mean? I suspect that the McCain camp is trying to rattle Obama, somewhat like the basketball fans who yell and wave things when an opposing player is shooting free throws. Obama is good when he has a teleprompter and is speaking to a friendly crowd, but is surprisingly weak when he gets outside that comfort zone. I suspect the McCain camp hopes to throw him off his stride by distracting him with the Veep choice and the new ad.

One thing we can say for sure about this campaign: McCain is playing to win.

FURTHER UPDATE: The report that McCain will announce his running mate tonight, which Drudge headlined, may be incorrect. McCain says he still hasn't made the choice. If that turns out to be right, and it's only the ad that runs in opposition to Obama's speech, it's still a pretty aggressive posture by McCain, but obviously less so.

PAUL adds: An attack ad is fine. However, McCain should not announce his vice presidential nominee until Friday. To step on Obama by announcing it (or leaking it) today would be pretty disgusting.

ONE MORE: Here is the ad that will run on television tonight. It's called "Convention," and it's a nice-guy approach: McCain congratulates Obama on his accomplishment in getting the nomination.

Seems mildly disappointing to me, but it may well be effective with swing voters.

As if a Rocky Mountain coronation were not lofty enough, Barack Obama will aim for Mount Olympus when he accepts his party's nomination atop an enormous, Greek-columned stage - built by the same cheesy set team that put together Britney Spears' last tour. ...

But the set is designed to evoke the White House and the Lincoln Memorial, not the Acropolis, said staging supervisor Bobby Allen, a Spears set vet.

"We've done Britney's sets and a whole bunch of rock shows, but this was far more elaborate and complicated and we had to do it in far less time," said Allen, of RDA Entertainment.

Asked who is harder to satisfy - the Democrats or Britney - Allen replied: "I better not answer that."

She did everything she needed to, but the speech was better for her than Obama.

New Polls Show Biden is a Null Factor

Three new polls have come out with samples from AUG 23-25. This time frame allows for the selection of Biden to sink in with the public and the Biden Effect has been thus far:
Gallup: McCain 46% Obama 44%
Rasmussen: McCain 46% Obama 46%
CNN: McCain 47% Obama 47%
Based on the numbers it appears that Biden is a [...]

The Edgiest Democratic Convention Since 1988

We can see where the Obama campaign is going with this convention.

Solve Our Problems McCain and Obama, Say Two Focus Groups

Voters want solutions to problems from the presidential candidates.

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: On the Scene

Wherever news is happening across the world, the FOX News team is there. From top headlines of the day, to the stories you'll only see at FOX News, our reporters and producers are blogging about it 24/7.

Much Ado About Hillary: Did Obama Intentionally Insult Clinton?

With all the Convention hoopla I thought I might drop a small blurb on the issue of whether or not Hillary’s supporters should be upset about not only the passing over of their candidate, but also in the manner in which it was done. This question is very relevant considering that Obama is only attracting 52%(!) [...]

No Wonder Obama Moved His Acceptance Speech to Invesco Field

It helps him avoid the risk of a lukewarm reception from any rebellious Clinton delegates.

Do you have a higher IQ than Joe Biden?

Don’t let him see you try and ask that question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1j0FS0Z6ho

Five things Joe Biden brings to the table for Barack Obama

While there is still a lot of research to be done on this, here are five areas that Senator Joe Biden could help Barack Obama in as they begin their fight to defeat John McCain.
Helps bring in Catholic vote: Joe Biden is very open about the fact that he is Catholic, there will be [...]

Poll: Is this change you can believe in?

Get the Quimble Poll widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox!Is this change you can believe in?

A Joe Biden blast from the past

So we know that Joe Biden has now been added to the ticket to help Barack Obama attempt to take down John McCain in November. However, lets take a look back at one of the ideas Joe Biden had for Senator McCain during the last election:
Biden endorses a Kerry-McCain ticket
Democrat’s ‘Hardball’ comments likely to fuel [...]

Ruminations on Obama?s Impending Choice

Update: 1:05 EST: Biden is the man. Wow, they really want to lose this election.
Update: 9:34 EST: CNN reports a flurry of activity at the Biden house as family and friends arrive and confirms Kaine was not chosen. Obama will announce Saturday morning (isn’t the media frenzy fun?)
Update 9:05 EST: MSNBC reports that Bayh and Kaine have been [...]

Obama Needs to Explain His Ties to William Ayers

Voters should pay attention to Obama's ties to the unrepentant terrorist.

Why Won't the Mainstream Media Question the Obama Narrative?

With one exception, there's little appetite for undermining his undeniably attractive story.

Poll Numbers Are Bad News for the Obama Campaign

Obama still leads in some electoral vote counts, but two national polls have McCain ahead.

Berlin on My Mind

The evolution of a column.

Barack Obama Has Learned: The Clintons Will Never Go Away

Obama made concessions to the Clintons because he had to.

Rain on Barack Obama's Denver Confab? Not Likely

The odds are against Obama's big speech getting rained out.

Behind the Polls—Registered Voters Vs. Likely Voters

Getting behind the polling numbers to get a better read on the electorate.

Hillary Clinton and the Black Vote: Should Have Seen It Coming (or Going)

After 51 years as a reporter and columnist, Novak announced his retirement.

A Tribute to Peter Rodman, 1943-2008

Peter was wise, learned, witty, and indulgent.

NEW POST: GretaWire

Greta takes you behind the scenes of her show, and gives you the latest news in the criminal cases making headlines.

NEW POST: E-Mac's Stock Watch

Breaking down the latest from Wall Street with insight you can't get anywhere else.

IN THE GREENROOM: In the Greenroom!

Love Alisyn on FOX & Friends? Get MORE of the morning show you love on Alisyn's blog!

Video: Debra Burlingame on the Non-Flying Imams

Here’s Debra Burlingame talking about the six imams ejected from a US Airways flight, and their shakedown campaign against the airlines, on Fox and Friends this morning.

[Video]

Progressives Circle the Wagons Around AP

While defending the Associated Press’s right to lie to its customers and spread enemy propaganda, John Cook at Radar Online takes a pathetic slap at me for something I didn’t write, about an event that happened today: Hawkish Blog Mum on AP Photog Murder.

I do thank Mr. Cook for linking to several posts at LGF about the AP’s disgraceful behavior. Readers who click through will discover that, unlike Cook’s inept smear job, the claims in my posts are actually backed up with evidence and arguments. Cook seems to believe that just pointing them out (“Look what Charles F. Johnson wrote! Isn’t he stupid?”) is enough to debunk them.

A truck-driving student is in custody in Boston after raising suspicions when he wasn’t interested in learning how to back up his rig.

WLVI-TV (Ch. 56) reported last night that the would-be trucker is a 28-year-old Muslim from India and had overstayed his visa. An investigation is under way to see whether there is any connection between his unusual behavior and a terrorism plot. Federal authorities were alerted by instructors at the Nationwide Tractor Trailer Driving School in Smithfield, R.I., WLVI reported.

The student was described as a resident of New York, with driver’s licenses from New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Why We Rarely Hear from Moderate Muslims

A Muslim woman who won the NSW Young Australian of the Year award is now the target of a hate campaign by followers of the Religion of Tolerance™: Vilified over sip of bubbly. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

THE state’s most promising young Muslim leader has become the victim of a hate campaign because she celebrated with a glass of champagne after being named NSW Young Australian of the Year.

Iktimal Hage-Ali, 22, has been targeted on Muslim websites for drinking alcohol and declining to wear the traditional hijab.

Her anonymous attackers condemned her after she drank the champagne to toast her award at the NSW Art Gallery last Thursday.

“It’s true, I was celebrating. Bloody hell, I had a glass of champagne in my hand – so what?” Ms Hage-Ali told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Another added: “She knows we don’t appreciate her representing us – but it’s the power that drives her. Drinking champagne, that is sick.”

The cowardly accusers also berated Ms Hage-Ali for wearing “revealing” clothes, nail polish and make-up. “Her matching nails, eye shadow and top . . . were not . . . how Islam would like to portray a Muslim female to the wider community,” one said.

YOUNG Muslim leader Iktimal Hage-Ali – a handpicked adviser to the Prime Minister – was arrested in a cocaine bust eight days before receiving the NSW Young Australian of the Year award.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Ms Hage-Ali, 22, was one of four people arrested by detectives from the Middle Eastern organised crime squad on November 22 as part of Strike Force Kirban. She was arrested at her Punchbowl home and taken to Bankstown police station, where she was questioned over a cocaine supply ring allegedly operating in Sydney’s southwest.

The leading member of John Howard’s Muslim Community Reference Group was released without charge.

Police seized what is believed to be prohibited drugs, cash and ammunition from several of the homes. Ms Hage-Ali’s home was not searched, but she had been identified by police as a suspect.

The Daily Telegraph first learned of her arrest last week, but Ms Hage-Ali vehemently denied any involvement or links to alleged drug suppliers.

“If it is true, why hasn’t it come out?” she said. “I am a high-profile person, I have no idea why people would be saying this.”

The prominent youth leader has worked full-time as a personal assistant in the NSW Attorney-General’s department for three months.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam — Sunni or Shiite — Reyes answered “they are probably both,” then ventured “Predominantly — probably Shiite.”

That is wrong. Al Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization and views Shiites as heretics.

Reyes could also not answer questions put by Stein about Hezbollah, a Shiite group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations that is based in Southern Lebanon.

Notice: rather than admit he didn’t know, Silvestre took a wild guess. Hey, what the heck. It’s a 50-50 chance, right?

Associated Press science writer Alicia Chang, in a scare piece on the possible climatic effects of a limited nuclear exchange in the Middle East, unwittingly admits what we all know to be true: Small nuclear war could lead to cooldown. (Hat tip: BusinessGuy.)

Expect this article to be edited soon.

In October, North Korea announced that it had tested a nuclear bomb. Iran is also pursuing the development of nuclear weapons. Other members or presumed members of the nuclear club include India, Pakistan and Israel.

Imams' Terror Links Pile Up

The six imams who’ve retained CAIR as legal counsel in a possible suit against US Airways are the subject of Katherine Kersten’s piece for the normally idiotarian Minneapolis Star Tribune: Suspicion about imams grows as terror links pile up. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Nothing here that hasn’t previously shown up at LGF, but it’s always nice to see an MSM piece about militant Islamic supremacism that isn’t completely blinkered.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the imams’ legal representative, is an organization that “we know has ties to terrorism,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in 2003. And the Muslim American Society, which is also supporting the imams? It’s the American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Chicago Tribune, which called it “the world’s most influential Islamic fundamentalist group.”

How about Omar Shahin, the imams’ spokesman and also president of the North American Imams Federation? He is a native of Jordan, who says he became a U.S. citizen in 2003. From 2000 to 2003, Shahin served as president of Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT), that city’s largest mosque.

The ICT is well known. The mosque has “an extensive history of terror links,” according to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, who testified about terrorist financing before the Senate Banking Committee in July 2005.

The Washington Post described these links in a 2002 article. “Tucson was one of the first points of contact in the United States for the jihadist group that evolved into al Qaeda,” the Post reported. And the ICT? It held “basically the first cell of al Qaeda in the United States; that is where it all started,” said Rita Katz, a terrorism expert quoted by the Post.

ICT members have included high-profile terrorists. Wael Hamza Jelaidan, the mosque’s leader in the mid-1980s, was identified by the U.S. government as a “ ‘co-founder’ of al Qaeda and its logistics chief,” the Post reported.

In an interview with the German television network SAT 1, Olmert was asked about the statement by US defense minister Robert Gates regarding Israel’s nuclear ability.

The prime minister became enraged when he was asked if the fact that Israel possessed nuclear power weakened the West’s position against Iran.
“Israel is a democracy and does not threaten anyone,” he exclaimed. The only thing we have tried to do is to live without (threats of) terror, but we have never threatened anyone with annihilation. Iran explicitly, openly and publicly threatens to wipe Israel off the map.“

Olmert then went on to admit Israel’s nuclear capability.

”Can you say that this is the same level, when they are aspiring to have nuclear weapons, as America, France, Israel and Russia?“ he said, adding that those countries had nuclear weapons but they did not threaten any one with it.

The prime minister said that the difference was that those countries were ”cultured nations" who did not threaten the world’s principles with nuclear destruction.

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